Mark Landler of the New York Times Fabricates Obama Quote: Awaiting Clarification

Submitted with little comment but there appears to be a highly misquoted remark by President Obama as reported by Mark Landler of the New York Times with regards to President Obama’s appearance at DSCC fundraiser and his comments on Ukraine.

Expressing confidence that the United States was on “the right side of history” in this battle, Mr. Obama said the nation would also resist Russia’s incursions in Ukraine, even though he noted that the United States has very little trade with Ukraine and “geopolitically, what happens in Ukraine doesn’t pose a great threat to us.”

Screenshot - Mark Landler/NY Times

However, according to a transcript of said remarks President Obama stated the following:

And if it were not for us, I think it’s fair to say that the situation would be much worse. But it’s something that we are going to have to not just pay attention to but continue to organize, not so much because Ukraine itself is a vital national security threat to us — we do very little trade with Ukraine and, geopolitically, it doesn’t — what happens in Ukraine doesn’t pose a direct threat to us — but because we are expected to uphold basic international rules and norms. And those rules and norms are what not only allows us to prosper but has allowed an unprecedented number of people to rise out of poverty, and wealth to spread to vast corners of the world, and the Internet to connect the world together.

Screenshot - “Remarks by the president at DSCC fundraiser”

If this is a misquote it’s a misquote of high magnitude and should be corrected by either Mark Landler or the New York Times.

UPDATE at 9/13/14 6:34:06 pm by Gus

As a consequence of this misquote here are several negative reactions.

Get lost, Ukraine, Obama says: “geopolitically, what happens in Ukraine doesn’t pose a great threat to us”
http://t.co/KYXfzg1agD

Expressing confidence that the United States was on “the right side of history” in this battle, Mr. Obama said the nation would also resist Russia’s incursions in Ukraine, even though he noted that the United States has very little trade with Ukraine and “geopolitically, what happens in Ukraine doesn’t pose a great threat to us.”

After

Expressing confidence that the United States was on “the right side of history” in this battle, Mr. Obama said the nation would also resist Russia’s incursions in Ukraine, even though he noted that the United States has very little trade with Ukraine and remarked that geopolitically, what happens in Ukraine doesn’t pose a great threat to us.